The Overland Monthly was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
The Overland Monthly was a monthly literary and cultural magazine, based in California, United States. It was founded in 1868 and published between the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
The Overland Monthly was founded in 1868 [1] [2] by Anton Roman, a Bavarian-born bookseller who moved to California during the Gold Rush. He had recently published the poems of Charles Warren Stoddard and a collection of verse by California writers called Outcroppings. [3] The magazine's first issue was published in July 1868, edited by Bret Harte in San Francisco, and continued until late 1875. Roman, who hoped his magazine would "help the material development of this Coast", was originally concerned that Harte would "lean too much toward the purely literary". Harte, who had been editor of both The Golden Era and The Californian [4] , was in turn skeptical at first that there would be enough quality content provided from local authors. [5] The first issue included contributions from the "Golden State Trinity": Harte, Stoddard, and Ina Coolbrith. [6]
Despite the positive response from critics and the magazine's profitability, publisher Anton Roman sold the Overland Monthly in June 1869 for $7,500 to John Carmany. [7] Harte immediately offered the new owner a list of demands, including a raise to $200 a month and a guarantee of his complete editorial control of each issue. [8] Carmany agreed to his terms, and Harte was able to leave his job at the San Francisco Mint to devote his full attention to the Overland Monthly. [9] The publication continued to thrive in this period; Mark Twain reported that he had "heard it handsomely praised by some of the most ponderous of America's literary chiefs." [8]
In the September 1870 issue, Harte published what became his most well-known work, "Plain Language from Truthful James", later known as "The Heathen Chinee". [9] That year, with his popularity soaring, Harte considered a professorship at the University of California, Berkeley or an offer to purchase the Overland Monthly, but declined both. Instead, he left California and traveled east to seek broader literary fame. [10]
The original publishers, in 1880, started The Californian, which became The Californian and Overland Monthly in October 1882. In January 1883, the effort reverted to The Overland Monthly (starting again with Volume I, number 1). The 1884 volume contained a commitment to present content "free of advertising taint," explaining that no article would appear that was not "in good faith what it appears to be." [11] It was based in San Francisco until at least 1921. [12] In 1923 the magazine merged with Out West to become Overland Monthly and the Out West magazine, and ended publication in July 1935.
Noted writers, editors, and artists associated with the magazine included:
Editors include:
Charles Farrar Browne was an American humor writer, better known under his nom de plume, Artemus Ward, which as a character, an illiterate rube with "Yankee common sense", Browne also played in public performances. He is considered to be America's first stand-up comedian. His birth name was Brown but he added the "e" after he became famous.
Bret Harte was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he also wrote poetry, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches.
Thomas Starr King, often known as Starr King, was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War, and Freemason. Starr King spoke zealously in favor of the Union and was credited by Abraham Lincoln with preventing California from becoming a separate republic. He is sometimes referred to as "the orator who saved the nation".
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer, librarian, and a prominent figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the "Sweet Singer of California", she was the first California Poet Laureate and the first poet laureate of any American state.
Bohemianism is a social and cultural movement that has, at its core, a way of life away from society's conventional norms and expectations. The term originates from the French bohème and spread to the English-speaking world. It was used to describe mid-19th-century non-traditional lifestyles, especially of artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities.
The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California, and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journalists, artists, and musicians, it soon began to accept businessmen and entrepreneurs as permanent members, as well as offering temporary membership to university presidents and military commanders who were serving in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the club has a membership of many local and global leaders, ranging from artists and musicians to businessmen. Membership is restricted to men only.
The Golden Era was a 19th-century San Francisco newspaper. The publication featured the writing of Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, Adah Isaacs Menken, Ada Clare, Prentice Mulford, Dan De Quille, J. S. Hittell and some women such as Frances Fuller Victor. Stoddard recalled the newspaper as "the chief literary organ west of the Rocky Mountains".
Charles Warren Stoddard was an American author and editor best known for his travel books about Polynesian life.
The California Writers Club traces its founding to the San Francisco Bay Area literary movement in the early part of the 20th century. The informal gatherings of Jack London, George Sterling, and Herman Whitaker, along with others, eventually became formalized as the Press Club of Alameda. In 1909, a break-off group from that club formed the California Writers Club with Austin Lewis serving as the club's first president. A quarterly bulletin under the guidance of Dr. William S. Morgan was established in 1912. The club finally incorporated in 1913, choosing the motto Sail On from the Joaquin Miller poem, "Columbus".
Milicent Washburn Shinn was a writer, editor, and child psychologist. She was the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. She entered the State University in September 1874 and finished her undergraduate degree in 1880. She was one of three student speakers at the commencement. She edited the Overland Monthly from 1882 to 1894. She received her Ph.D. in 1898 at the age of 40.
"The Heathen Chinee", originally published as "Plain Language from Truthful James", is a narrative poem by American writer Bret Harte. It was published for the first time in September 1870 in the Overland Monthly. It was written as a parody of Algernon Charles Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon (1865), and satirized anti-Chinese sentiment in northern California.
Josephine Clifford McCracken (1839–1921) was a California writer and journalist, a contemporary of Bret Harte, John Muir, Ina Coolbrith, and Joaquin Miller, and an environmentalist. She was a member of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Association.
"The Luck of Roaring Camp" is a short story by American author Bret Harte. It was first published in the August 1868 issue of the Overland Monthly and helped push Harte to international prominence.
Charles Henry Webb was an American poet, author and journalist. He was particularly known for his parodies and humorous writings.
James F. Bowman was a journalist and poet in Northern California, and a co-founder of the Bohemian Club. Bowman served on several newspapers in Placerville, Sacramento and San Francisco during a 24-year career. Through his contacts among San Francisco journalists, Bowman befriended Mark Twain, artist William Keith, critic Ambrose Bierce and a great many others.
The Californian was a San Francisco literary periodical issued monthly during 1880–1882, published by Anton Roman who had helped found the earlier Overland Monthly. The Californian was a continuation of the Overland Monthly after its 1875 cessation, and changed back into the Overland Monthly in late 1882.
The Californian was a San Francisco literary newspaper published weekly from May 28, 1864 until February 1, 1868.
William Chauncey Bartlett (1818–1907) was an American writer, born December 30, 1818, in Haddam, Connecticut. He attended Williams College, and Ohio University in 1847. He was admitted to Ohio bar, and was a law partner of Hiram Strong in Dayton, Ohio from 1848 to 1855. In 1855 he joined the staff of the Dayton Gazette. In 1857 he preached against slavery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Mary Catherine McIntire Pacheco was an American novelist and playwright. The wife of California governor Romualdo Pacheco, she was First Lady of California during her husband's term in 1875.
Charles Howard Shinn (1852–1924) was a horticulturalist, author, inspector of California Experiment Stations, and forest ranger in California.
